A Guide to the GCSE Listening Paper Compiled from Simon Rushby’s articles for Rhinegold’s Music Teacher The GSCE listening paper is divided into two sections. Section A contains eight listening questions, two on each Area of Study. These questions require detailed knowledge of the set works, and you have to answer all of the questions in this section. You will not know which of the twelve set works will be covered until you sit the exam. Section B will offer a choice of two questions, from which you select one. This section will include one or two very short questions about the background to one of the set works, and a long-answer question that asks you to examine the work from the perspective of the elements of music. One of the questions in Section B will be on a work from either AOS 1or 2, and the other from AOS 3 or 4, so it is possible that you could revise just half of the set works for this question, if you find all twelve too much. However it is worth mentioning that this would remove the element of choice from Section B, and they would still have to know all twelve set works for Section A. It is perhaps not entirely a good idea, unless you are really struggling. Later in this pack I will give some advice on how to write really good Section B answers. So, in preparation for this paper, you need to be able to identify aurally the key musical features in each of the set works. You need to know a little about the context in which they were written, and how they fit into their relevant genres. You should also be prepared to answer notation questions based on extracts from the works, and express and justify opinions on them. Area of Study 1: Western Classical Music The set works in Area of Study 1 are: „And the Glory of the Lord‟ from Messiah by Handel, written in 1741 Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 500 (first movement) by Mozart, written in 1788 Prelude No. 15 in Db major, Op. 28 („Raindrop‟) by Chopin, written in about 1839. Although these works were all written within a one hundred-year period, they span three important eras of musical style – the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods.
All 12 set works are featured with analysis and response examples for section B
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A Guide to the GCSE Listening Paper
Compiled from Simon Rushby’s articles for Rhinegold’s Music Teacher
The GSCE listening paper is divided into two sections. Section A contains eight
listening questions, two on each Area of Study. These questions require detailed
knowledge of the set works, and you have to answer all of the questions in this
section. You will not know which of the twelve set works will be covered until you
sit the exam.
Section B will offer a choice of two questions, from which you select one. This
section will include one or two very short questions about the background to one of
the set works, and a long-answer question that asks you to examine the work from
the perspective of the elements of music.
One of the questions in Section B will be on a work from either AOS 1or 2, and the
other from AOS 3 or 4, so it is possible that you could revise just half of the set
works for this question, if you find all twelve too much. However it is worth
mentioning that this would remove the element of choice from Section B, and they
would still have to know all twelve set works for Section A. It is perhaps not entirely
a good idea, unless you are really struggling.
Later in this pack I will give some advice on how to write really good Section B
answers.
So, in preparation for this paper, you need to be able to identify aurally the key
musical features in each of the set works. You need to know a little about the
context in which they were written, and how they fit into their relevant genres. You
should also be prepared to answer notation questions based on extracts from the
works, and express and justify opinions on them.
Area of Study 1: Western Classical Music
The set works in Area of Study 1 are:
„And the Glory of the Lord‟ from Messiah by Handel, written in 1741
Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 500 (first movement) by Mozart, written in 1788
Prelude No. 15 in Db major, Op. 28 („Raindrop‟) by Chopin, written in about 1839.
Although these works were all written within a one hundred-year period, they span three
important eras of musical style – the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods.
HANDEL: ‘AND THE GLORY OF THE LORD’ from MESSIAH1
The Baroque Period
The period of music running from the time of Monterverdi (1600) to the death of Bach
(1750) is commonly known as Baroque, though this term was not coined until the
twentieth century. This was a time of great steps forward in science, and European
explorers colonized many new foreign lands, bringing great wealth to the continent. The arts
took on a sense of the dramatic, with painters, sculptors, architects and composers wishing
to impress with great virtuosic displays and sumptuous decoration in their work, as seen in
the examples pictured.
(The Interior of St Peter‟s Basilica, Rome, and exterior of Berlin Cathedral)
The following major stylistic features of Baroque music are:
A huge importance placed on melody (often highly decorated) and rhythm
(extremely exciting in this example).
Busy, full textures – composers liked to contrast between homophonic and
polyphonic.
The importance of dramatic, intense emotion.
Showy, virtuosic technical displays.
Functional harmony, with clear cadences and modulations to related keys –
this was the period where the major/minor key system we know today was
cemented.
A desire to link music to the greater world – in this piece, through the vivid
portrayal of the cold winter, and in the Handel set work, through clever setting of
the words to appropriate music.
The use of the harpsichord or organ, along with a bass instrument, to underpin the
music (known as basso continuo)
Context
Handel, a German composer who had travelled extensively throughout Europe (especially
Italy) and by now was residing in England, composed his best-known oratorio in a little
over three weeks in the late summer of 1741, to texts drawn by librettist Charles Jennens
from the Bible. It received its first performance in Dublin in the Spring of 1742, as part of a
series of concerts which raised funds for various local charitable ventures. Handel is thought
1 A video performance of this extract from The Messiah can be found at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6yIgN54R7k
to have played the harpsichord at the first performance, which also featured trumpets,
timpani and strings in the orchestra (oboes and bassoon were added by Handel for
subsequent performances). Later, Mozart arranged the work for a larger orchestra.
„And the glory of the Lord‟ is the fourth movement in the first part of the work, and the first
choral movement. It is a response by the choir to the news of the coming of Christ,
proclaimed by the tenor soloist in the previous movements.
Analysis
The main concept that Handel communicates in this movement is joy, and much of the
writing is intended to promote the feeling of optimism found in the text. Let‟s have a look at
how he does this.
Melody
Handel states each line of the text with its own melodic idea, resulting in four very
different ideas, or motifs, which are each developed throughout the piece,
sometimes together, sometimes separately.
Handel uses both triadic and stepwise melodies, and often follows one with the
other by way of contrast. The first motif („And the glory, the glory of the Lord‟),
starting in bar 11, is a good example of this.
Melodies often rise and fall in contrast with each other – for example, the second
motif („Shall be revealed‟ – starting in bar 17) descends to contrast with the
ascending first motif.
Repetition of small melodic cells is used, such as in the third motif („And all flesh
shall see it together‟), which starts in bar 43. Sometimes these repetitions are in
sequence, such as in the second motif (bars 18-19).
Handel achieves a sense of occasion and dignity by proclaiming the very austere
words of the fourth motif („For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it‟) on just two
notes. This is first seen starting in bar 51.
These motifs are often combined, so that some voices sing one motif whilst other
voices sing another. A good example of this is seen starting in bar 22, where the
tenors and sopranos have the first motif, and the altos (followed by the tenors) have
the second. In the passage of music starting in bar 93, Handel has three motifs going
on at once!
Word setting
Clever word setting is one of Handel‟s trademarks, and we can see evidence of it in
this movement. Handel contrasts syllabic word-setting (e.g. in the first motif, bar
11) with melismatic (e.g. the second motif, starting bar 17).
Word painting can be seen in the fourth motif (e.g. bars 51-57) where the slow
rhythms reflect the importance of the text.
Rhythm and metre
The movement is in triple time, and has a lively dance-like feel to communicate the
joyful mood of the words.
There are many examples of hemiola, usually as the music approaches an
important cadence point, such as bars 9-10.
The music is driven throughout by an incessant crotchet rhythm in the bass line.
The three beats of silence before the final cadence are extremely dramatic.
Harmony and Tonality
The movement is in the bright key of A major, emphasised by the first motif, which
starts with an A major triad and ends with a rising scale to the tonic note.
Modulations in the movement are to the dominant (E major – e.g. bar 22) and the
dominant of the dominant (B major – e.g. bar 74). Handel avoids minor keys and the
flatter sounding sub-dominant. The modulations occur at important parts of the
movement, dictating its structure. This is known as functional tonality.
Primary chords (I, IV and V – the major chords) and perfect cadences are
extremely common in this movement, adding to its bright, optimistic mood.
Handel carefully chooses moments to use a more grand-sounding plagal cadence –
most striking is the one in the very last bars of the movement.
Texture
This is arguably the element that Handel contrasts the most, resulting in a very
colourful setting.
When the altos start, in bar 11, they are alone, but they are answered by the other
three vocal parts in homophonic texture, making this opening exchange sound very
declamatory. In many of the homophonic sections, it is the basses who have the
melody.
There is much use of imitation, resulting in sections of quite complex polyphonic
textures, such as bars 17-22, the first entry of the second motif.
Handel contrasts the combinations of voices to make the texture colourful and
interesting. Bars 22-33 are a good example of this.
Polyphonic and homophonic textures are contrasted throughout, and Handel often
uses homophony to emphasise an important phrase, such as in bar 33, and at the
end (when the tempo slows as well).
Handel contrasts between one, two, three and four-part vocal textures.
Orchestral writing
Handel uses the orchestra in three main ways – to double the vocal parts, to drive
the music forward (especially in the writing for basso continuo) and to provide short
interludes between the choral sections.
The orchestral writing is mainly string-orientated.
Section A questions
In the exam, a short extract from the movement lasting between 30 and 60 seconds will be
played five times. Depending on the extract, these are examples of the types of questions
you might be asked:
1. How does Handel make the music sound joyful in this section?
2. Complete a very short section of melody (you will be given the rhythm, and it may
be one of the four main motifs. You could alternatively be asked to notate an
extract of rhythm only).
3. Name the cadence at bar x.
4. What is the key of this extract?
5. To which key does the music modulate at the end of this extract?
6. How does Handel contrast the texture of the choral parts in bar(s) x?
7. What is the name of the melodic/rhythmic/harmonic device in bar(s) x? (See the box
to the left/right for a summary of devices).
Devices are compositional „tools‟ used commonly to develop or emphasise a musical idea.
Devices found in this set work include:
Melodic devices: sequence, imitation (this also falls under texture).
The development shows Mozart‟s creative genius at work! He modulates every few
bars, often by way of chromatic sequences, visiting a whole host of extremely distant
keys.
The end of the development gives us a huge clue that the „modulation madness‟ is
coming to an end and the recapitulation is around the corner – we hear a very long
dominant pedal (the note D) in the closing bars of this section. This is known as
dominant preparation.
The movement is littered with perfect cadences that give us clear signposts in this
otherwise quite complex trip through tonality.
A lot of the harmony is chromatic, but relies on circles of fifths to underpin it. A
good example of this is the answering phrase in the second subject, bars 47-50,
where you can clearly see the chromaticism in the violin parts, and the circle of fifths
in the „cello and bass parts.
It is worth noting that the harmonic rhythm – the rate at which the actual chords
change underneath the melodic parts – is often quite slow, so that the melody is
given room. The first subject, for instance, is set over an unchanging G minor chord
for its first four bars, and then moves to a two-bar or one-bar rate of harmonic
change.
Texture and instrumentation
The overriding texture in this movement is melody-dominated homophony, or
„melody with accompaniment‟. There are very few examples of polyphonic texture
(but see „other points‟ below).
This does not mean that the music is textually one-dimensional. On the contrary,
Mozart contrasts the instrumental texture constantly, using different combinations
of instruments.
The woodwind gets a more prominent role than that seen in the Handel, often
having melodies or sharing them with the violins, though the music is still quite
string-dominated. The horns‟ role is largely textural, adding weight to the harmony.
Other points
Mozart includes a lot more performance instructions than Handel, such as dynamics
and articulation.
There are a number of „special effects‟ such as diminished sevenths,
syncopation and short passages of counterpoint.
Section A questions
Again, pick a short extract and adapt some of the suggested questions to suit it!
1. What is the key of the extract?
2. Name the cadence heard at the end of the extract.
3. Complete the following melody/rhythm (don‟t give more than five or six missing
notes).
4. From which part of the sonata form structure does this extract come?
5. (For a chromatic phrase) How would you describe the melody in bar x?
6. Name two instruments which play the melody in this section.
7. How is the phrase at bar x contrasted when it is repeated in bar y?
8. What melodic/rhythmic/harmonic device can you hear in bar x?
9. How would you best describe the texture of this extract?
Section B questions
The short-answer questions in this section may ask you to identify the century or period in
which the symphony was composed, or ask a question about the type of work from which
this movement comes (such as how many movements the symphony has). For the longer
question, focus the thinking on how Mozart uses the various elements shown above to
create both balance and contrast in this movement.
CHOPIN: PRELUDE NO. 15 in Db MAJOR, OP. 28 (‘RAINDROP’)
The Romantic Period
The concept of Romanticism, which dominated the nineteenth century, went hand-in-hand
with the spirit of revolution and the desire to gain national identity. Artists in all genres
became more interested in fantasy, emotion and patriotism – ideals driven by the heart
rather than by the head. This was perhaps in part a reaction against the formality of the
Classical period, but in fact most Romantic composers were heavily influenced by Haydn,
Mozart and particularly Beethoven.
Common features of Romantic music include:
A much looser structure, with the course of the music dictated more by
programmatic elements than the idea of balance.
Longer melodies with more irregular phrasing.
Larger orchestral forces, including more brass and percussion instruments.
A wider palette of colour in the music, with large contrasts of dynamics, tempo,
texture and instrumentation.
Technically challenging parts for all instruments.
More dissonance and chromaticism in the harmony, which adds to the sense of
tension. Harmony was increasingly used more for colour than structure.
Modulations to more remote keys.
Like Mozart, Chopin was a child prodigy who had a strong musical upbringing, and by his
early twenties was travelling around Europe, settling for quite a long time in Paris, where he
got to know Berlioz and Liszt and the authoress Georges Sand, with whom he struck up a
relationship which lasted for some nine years. His music was virtually all written for the
piano, and often drew upon his native Poland by using Polish dance styles and melodies, such
as Mazurkas and Polonaises. Chopin quickly became known for his collections of shortish
piano pieces, published in collections by type, such as Waltzes, Nocturnes, and Preludes, of
which the set work is part of a set of 24. He wrote this in a monastery on the island of
Majorca, where he had gone to try to recover from tuberculosis in 1838 at the age of just
28. He did return to Paris but never fully recovered from the disease and died from it in
1849.
The piano had come into its own in the 19th century and many composers were writing for
it, especially as technological advances had hugely improved the instrument since the smaller,
wooden framed instruments of Mozart‟s day. The piano of the Romantic period was capable
of a wide range of sounds and expressions, and Chopin championed it with his output. At
the time of writing the Preludes Chopin had been studying Bach‟ Well Tempered Clavier – a set
of 48 preludes and fugues, two in each major and minor key. Chopin‟s 24 Preludes mimic this
idea and are arranged in the order of the circle of fifths. Though the story is no more than
anecdotal, it is said that Chopin composed this Prelude during a storm and imagined his
withered body lying in a lake, with raindrops splashing upon it. Certainly his tuberculosis
caused him to have wild imaginations, and his publisher naturally latched on to the imagery
and dubbed the piece „Raindrop‟ – not a title that Chopin particularly approved of.
Analysis
Form
This 89-bar piece is in a simple ternary form, with the A sections in the key of Db
minor, and the central B section in the tonic minor, enharmonically changed to
C# minor.
However, this ternary form is unbalanced, as the final A section is significantly
shorter than the other sections and operates as little more than an extended coda.
The opening A section has a ternary structure of its own.
The piece is also unified by the incessantly repeating pedal note (Ab in the A
sections, enharmonically changed to G# in the B sections), which is likely to be the
rhythmic patter of the raindrops falling on Chopin‟s roof as he composed the piece.
Melody
The opening theme, like Handel‟s, begins with a key-defining triad followed by a
scale, though Chopin‟s triad falls and his scale rises and then falls, perhaps to add to
the melancholy mood of the piece or to further signify the raindrops.
As a throwback to the Classical era, this opening theme is regularly phrased.
A second theme begins in bar 8 – another simple, sad, stepwise melody. This one is
varied when it is repeated, and does not return in the final A section.
As the first theme returns, there is more decoration with septuplets and
acciaccaturas. This is very typical of Chopin‟s piano style.
The B section melody is played in the left hand and is very foreboding and not
particularly lyrical. The incessant raindrops almost dominate in this dark section.
In the short reprise of section A, the melody is broken off by the sudden
interruption of a cadenza-like passage for just the right hand.
Rhythm
The dominating rhythm is the repeating quavers of the „raindrops‟, which keep the
music going despite this relatively slow tempo.
One aspect of rhythm that was important in Romantic music was the application of
rubato, where the performer was encouraged to be flexible with the tempo in
order to allow the music to „breathe‟.
Harmony and tonality
The inner parts tend to support the melodies with thirds and sixths, and the
harmony is often simple and diatonic, using mainly tonic and dominant seventh
chords, with the occasional added ninth (e.g. bar 3, beat 2).
Perfect cadences continue to provide closure at important points, showing that
functional tonality still applies in this early part of the Romantic period.
Some chromaticism appears in the second theme, and becomes more apparent in
the minor key B section, along with other „melancholy‟ devices such as
appoggiaturas and suspensions.
Other than the move to the tonic minor, modulations tend to be quite short lived,
apart from the move to Ab minor and then Bb minor in the second theme. Chopin
modulates by using pivot notes.
Pedal notes are a big feature of this piece, usually dominant pedals, and sometimes
inverted (i.e. in the top part).
Texture and piano writing
Chopin was a master of writing for the piano, and brings out many aspects of the
instrument‟s expressive qualities, such as the use of the lower register in the middle
section, and the use of the pedal. He also exploits the piano‟s ability to bring out the
melody whilst keeping inner parts quieter („sotto voce‟ is a favourite instruction of
Chopin‟s!).
The texture throughout is quite full, with three or four parts going on, and the
middle of the B section is both loud and very full-textured, providing a tense and
powerful climax to the piece.
However, Chopin also brings in stark contrasts, and frequently reduces the texture
to just one or two notes.
It is also worth drawing attention to the large number of performance instructions in this
piece, ranging from dynamics, articulation and phrasing to detailed pedaling and words such
as „smorzando‟. Chopin was quite precise in indicating what he wanted – a far cry from
Handel‟s score.
Section A questions
Once again, any 30-60 second portion of the music can suffice. Questions might be
something like:
1. Complete the melody in bar x.
2. What cadence can be heard in bar x?
3. What features of Romantic music can be heard in this extract?
4. How does Chopin communicate a mood of sadness in this extract?
5. What examples are there in this extract of expressive writing for the piano?
6. What is the key in bar(s) x?
Section B questions
The short answer questions are likely to be about the time or period of composition, the
circumstances surrounding the composition or its acquisition of the name „Raindrop‟, or
something about Chopin‟s compositions for the piano or what the name Prelude means.
The long answer question will either ask you to show how this is a typical Romantic piece,
or encourage you to comment on the way Chopin uses musical elements in the Prelude, but
either way a good knowledge of the chief points pertaining to each element will stand you in
good stead. There is a model answer on this very piece at the end of this pack.
Area of Study 2: 20th Century Music
The set works in Area of Study 2 are:
Peripetie from Five Orchestral Pieces by Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), written in
1909
Something‟s Coming from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), written
in 1958
Electric Counterpoint: 3rd movement („Fast‟) by Steve Reich (born 1936), written in
1987.
Music at the start of the 20th century had, in some composers‟ opinions, reached a crisis
point. Composers of the late 19th century had taken melody, harmony, tonality and form to
a point far away from the order and balance found in works such as Mozart‟s Symphony No.
40 in Area of Study 1.
If you compare aspects of the Mozart set work with Schoenberg‟s Peripetie, you might notice
the following things:
Whilst Mozart‟s melodies are balanced, with equal length question and answer
phrases, Schoenberg‟s are short, motivic, irregular and not really „melodies‟ in the
traditional sense.
Whilst Mozart uses a clear tonic key and modulates to related keys,
Schoenberg has done away with keys altogether.
Whilst Mozart employs cadences at important points to outline his structure,
Schoenberg does not use them at all.
Whilst Mozart‟s music is tonally and harmonically clear, leaving the listener in no
doubt where he or she is, Schoenberg generates tension and emotion without ever
giving the listener the comfort of a harmonic or tonal „map‟.
One thing was clear in the early years of the 20th century – composers rarely agreed with
each other about the direction that musical language should take. As a result, a myriad of
differing styles developed. Additionally, the invention of recording technology meant that
millions more people could experience music new and old, and a number of „popular‟ styles
developed, starting with various forms of jazz and culminating in the explosion of rock and
pop after the Second World War.
The three pieces in Area of Study 2 show just how diverse music of the last century became.
In Peripetie we see a composer who has abandoned traditional tonality and is experimenting
with a new musical order. In Something‟s Coming we see popular music and theatre combined
with tremendous skill, so that tonal music sounds fresh and original. In Electric Counterpoint
we see technology and tonality combined in an exciting way. All three of these pieces, in
their own individual ways, were taking music forward into a truly modern age.
SCHOENBERG: Peripetie from Five Orchestral Pieces, Op. 16 (1909)
Schoenberg – a self-portrait
Context
Whilst it suited some composers of the early 20th century to remain tonal and perpetuate or
refine musical tradition, some, like Schoenberg, felt that a completely new approach was
needed. Though the Five Orchestral Pieces were written before Schoenberg developed his
twelve-tone method for which he was best known, he had already abandoned tonality and
was looking for alternative ways to unify and develop his musical ideas.
Schoenberg wrote the Five Orchestral Pieces at a time when he his style was best described as
expressionist. Expressionism was a movement which originated in Germany at the start of
the 20th century, first in painting and poetry, and which concerned itself with the often
violent and vivid portrayal of mood and emotion. As well as one of the most important
composers of this period, Schoenberg was also a painter of some note, whose work was
sometimes exhibited alongside some of the best painters of the time.3
Schoenberg‟s compositional career and personal life at this time was going through
something of a crisis. His early music, such as the string sextet Verklarte Nacht (1899), was
highly chromatic and romantic in style, showing influences from Brahms and Wagner. From a
very early point, however, Schoenberg experimented, particularly with tonality and key-
relationships. The Five Orchestral Pieces come just at the moment when Schoenberg was
becoming increasingly atonal in his outlook. Ultimately, this erosion of tonality led to
Schoenberg needing to develop a new way to structure and unify his compositions, and this
culminated in his twelve-tone (or serial) methods, which first appeared in the 1920s.
3 A performance of Peripetie combined with a selection of expressionist art can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNCIz-_QFrs. This is well worth watching as an introduction to expressionism.
As you can see, there are a number of significant departures made by Davis in his selection
of chords for All Blues. Notable among these is the use of the tonic minor chord instead of
the subdominant in bars 5 and 6, and the minor dominant chord in bar 9. Bar 10, the
most interesting of all, contains a chromatic shift upwards of one semitone from the
preceding bar, resulting in an Eb minor 7th chord, or a flattened sub-mediant, which
quickly moves back down to the more settled dominant. This kind of chromatic
harmonic decoration is typical of Miles Davis‟s style.
Also very notable about these chords is that every one of them contains added seventh
notes. The flat (or „blue‟) seventh was very common in jazz harmony and melody, but in this
case many of them are minor 7ths, which make the harmony that little bit more
interesting. Not notated are the myriad of other „extra‟ non-harmony notes put into the
mix by the trumpet and saxophones (and also the piano) which give the track its rich palette
of colour – double and triple appoggiaturas and chromatic passing notes appear in
virtually every bar.
Analysis
In the following section, I refer to the track using times rather than bar numbers. A number
of transcriptions exist, some in 3/4 time and some in 6/8, so using bar numbers would cause
confusion. Do make sure you use the original 1959 recording from the Kind of Blue album –
there are live recordings and alternative takes in existence, which have significant
differences.
The overall structure, in very superficial terms, is as follows:
0‟00‟‟ Introduction
Oscillating notes on piano (Bill Evans), a riff (or vamp) on the double bass (Paul
Chambers), a swung waltz-style pattern on the drums using brushes (Jimmy Cobb)
0‟10‟‟ Introduction (continued)
Alto (Adderley) and tenor (Coltrane) saxophones enter with a riff in thirds, emphasizing
the flat seventh note F.
0‟20 Head
Davis enters with the main theme on trumpet with a harmon mute – one of his trademark
sounds. Typically of Davis, this theme is slow moving and understated. All other riffs and
parts continue, apart from in bars 9 and 10 of the 12-bar when the chromatic shifts
between chords V and VI are emphasised.
0‟53‟‟ Intro and Head repeated (slightly altered trumpet melody).
This is followed by another four bars of the intro riff, and a drum fill.
1‟45‟‟ Choruses 1-4
Trumpet solo (Davis), without the mute. Cobb moves from brushes to sticks. No
saxophones – just the rhythm section of piano, bass and drums accompany the solos. These
choruses are also the best parts of the track for hearing the chord progressions clearly.
Following this 48-bar solo the intro returns for four bars.
4‟00‟‟ Choruses 5-8
Alto saxophone solo. Adderley‟s solo style is more rhythmic than Davis, with syncopation
and short riffs and sequences. There are also some lovely chromatic and modal runs using
the full range of the instrument. Once again the solo is 48 bars long and is followed by a four
bar intro.
6‟14‟‟ Choruses 9-12
Tenor saxophone solo. Coltrane‟s trademark warm and commanding tone is a great
contrast to Adderley before him. This solo is more virtuosic and perhaps less rhythmically
arresting, with the focus being on melody and stunning chromatic runs. Cobb‟s drums
become more complex in this solo as well, with a lot of syncopation, cross-rhythms and
polyrhythm. Again a four-bar intro follows the solo.
8‟26‟‟ Choruses 13-14
Piano solo. Of course, Bill Evans has been playing all along, but he now gets a 24-bar solo of
his own. He skillfully mixes harmonic improvisation of a very complex nature with some
small snippets of melody. He experiments a lot with parallel chains of chords.
9‟28‟‟ Intro
The saxophones return with their riff, the piano reverts to its oscillating notes, and it sounds
like the Head is going to return to bring the piece to a close.
9‟38‟‟ Head
Davis does not disappoint, and the intimate tone of the muted trumpet (complete with a
„split‟ note at the start – but Davis never worried about those!) returns for the Head, played
twice as before.
11‟00‟‟ Outro
Four more bars of introduction, and then Davis signs off with some rhythmic improvisation
before the track fades.
In preparation for Section A and B questions on All Blues, the following points should be
useful.
Pitch
- Can you notate the bass riff and saxophone riffs heard in the introduction?
- Solos are based on the concept of modal improvisation. For example, the G-G scale
with a flat seventh degree used in this track is the mixolydian mode.
- Sequences are often used in the instrumental solos – check out the alto solo for good
examples.
Rhythm
- The track has a 6/8 swung waltz feel to it, though some scores will notate it in ¾ time
(which makes each 12-bar chorus 24 bars long).
- The track has a moderate tempo.
- Jimmy Cobb‟s drums carry this triple time groove through the entire track, with focus
particularly on the ride cymbal (more on this under „instrumentation‟).
- There are many examples of syncopation both in melody and harmony parts. The alto
sax solo and Davis‟s improvised outro are good examples of this.
- The drum part becomes quite complex as the piece goes on, and there are many
examples of fills, cross-rhythms and polyrhythm.
Harmony
- I have already mentioned the altered 12-bar blues harmonic structure, and the use of
modal harmony – one way of explaining this is that the track is neither major nor
minor.
- The harmony of the track is characterized by chromaticism, appoggiaturas and added
7ths.
Instrumentation
- The track is scored for a jazz sextet consisting of three rhythm instruments (piano,
bass, drums) and three lead instruments (trumpet, alto, tenor).
- Apart from in the intros and Head choruses, only one lead instrument plays at a time.
The rhythm section plays throughout.
- The drums are played with brushes at first, and then sticks when the solos begin. The
ride cymbal features heavily as the main rhythmic driving force (common in jazz), and
the snare features with syncopated decorations and fills (sometimes the toms as well).
- The double bass is played pizzicato and generally plays a riff. It has a rhythmic part as
important as the drums, which keeps a solid beat and often walks.
- The piano begins the piece with an oscillating almost trill-like figure on the notes A
and G, doubled at a fourth below. This idea is both decorative and harmonically
interesting. When the solos start the piano comps - maintaining both a rhythmic and
harmonic underlay for the soloists. Bill Evans also gets his own short solo, which is full
of parallel chords and non-harmonic notes. Generally speaking, Evans restricts himself
to the middle range of the piano.
- As well as their easily recognised riff in thirds, the alto and tenor both have virtuosic
solos with much chromaticism and runs. The alto solo is also very rhythmic with much
syncopation. Both these solos are based on modes, and use the full range of the
instruments, with „special effects‟ such as smears and glissandos.
- The trumpet has two distinct timbres – the intimate sound created in the Head by the
harmon mute, and the open sound of the solo. It is not in Davis‟s style to play showy,
virtuosic solos. Instead his melodies are slow, mellow and have long phrases. He likes
to experiment with very complex modal harmony, and clearly spends a lot of time
thinking about what he is playing! He was never a technically adept player in the way
that, for example, Louis Armstrong was, and was not bothered if he „missed‟ notes or
made „mistakes‟.
A wah-wah mute
Structure
- The track is structured in the conventional jazz „Head‟ arrangement, which dates back to
the trad jazz of the 1920s and is akin to the classical theme and variations structure.
It would also be good to spend a little time thinking about aspects such as dynamics and
texture.
Additionally, it is important that you understand how All Blues fits into the development of
the jazz style, but only to a reasonably superficial level:
- The importance of Trad Jazz in New Orleans and Chicago of the 1920s.
- The rise of Swing in the 1930s, and particularly the concept of the big band, of jazz for
dancing, and the complex written out arrangements of bandleaders such as Duke
Ellington. This was the overly commercial jazz that Davis‟s New York friends of the
1940s objected to.
- The rise of Bop (or Bebop) in 1940s post-war New York. This was small-band,
complex jazz intended for aficionados rather than mass popularity. Any music of the
1940s by Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk or Dizzy Gillespie would be good here.
- From this background it becomes easier to understand Davis‟s interest in simplifying the
Bop style, and switching the interest to modal harmony, timbre and texture. Despite
the showy saxophone solos, there is none of Bop‟s overt complexity in All Blues.
JEFF BUCKLEY: Grace
Context
Jeff Buckley‟s only completed album was released in August 1994 and initially peaked at 149
in the US and 42 in the UK charts. The title track was released in early 1995 as the first
single from the album, and Buckley played it at gigs (along with his co-writer Gary Lucas) for
at least three years prior to the release date.
Jeff Buckley was born in California to musical parents, though it is thought that he only met
his biological father, the folk-rock singer Tim Buckley, once, when he was eight years old.
By the early 1990s Buckley was causing a major stir as a performer at Manhattan clubs such
as Sin-é, and he was hastily snapped up by Columbia records, who allegedly agreed a million-
dollar, three-album deal with him.
He gathered a band around him (including co-writer Lucas for Grace and one other song,
Mojo Pin), and recorded Grace in late 1993 and early 1994 with producer Andy Wallace, who
had previously been involved with major albums such as Nirvana‟s Never Mind.
Though the album did not initially do well, over the fifteen years following its release it has
sold millions of copies, and is lauded by critics as an extremely significant work.
Buckley‟s second album was never made. One evening in Memphis in 1997, whilst waiting for
his band to fly in to begin recording the album, Jeff Buckley went swimming in the Wolf
River (a tributary of the Mississippi) fully clothed, and disappeared. His body was found days
later, and a verdict of death by accidental drowning was recorded.
Style
Certain aspects of Jeff Buckley‟s style stand out after maybe only one listen to this lengthy
song.
The lyrics, poetic and profound, were loosely about Buckley‟s own decision to move from
California to New York, partly to be with a loved one, and deal with the concept of true
love, though they seem ironic in the context of what was to happen to Buckley three years
later.
His voice is pure and covers a vast range (or tessitura), rising from quiet meditation at the
beginning to wild, unbridled wailing at the end. The track has an acoustic sound (and features
a number of guitar riffs) but is full in its arrangement, with a constant „wall‟ of strange
background sounds vying to be noticed.
The harmony is often discordant and complex, but the superimposition of a number of
memorable riffs and Buckley‟s scalic vocal melodies made the song hard to forget. The
tempo is medium paced but the song has frenetic rhythm and vital energy.
In truth this track is original and transcends genre – there are undoubtedly clear traces of
his folk and progressive rock influences but the singing style is more akin to 20th century
„classical‟ and avant-garde music. Buckley‟s work was a strong influence on subsequent
alternative bands, most notably English band Radiohead.
Analysis
Structurally Grace is complex, but it follows a verse/chorus model. The verses are mostly
in two parts, and each is preceded by an instrumental. The complexity of this song is
mainly in the tonal structure – despite the overall key being E minor, other keys are
explored and there is much evidence of chromatic harmony.
0‟00” Introduction/Instrumental (Section A)
Two guitars double up on a finger-style riff outlining first the chord of F minor, and then G
minor, though the presence of the sharpened sixth in this riff makes the music sound
modal immediately. The band enters with a single, loud E minor chord.
0‟11‟‟ Instrumental (Section B)
This is also part of the introduction, but called „instrumental‟ here to recognise the fact that
it returns before every verse. A strong, chordal guitar riff, played four times, high in the
guitar‟s range, underlines not the tonic key but that of D major, with emphasis on the
seventh degree, C sharp. The strong sense of compound time is also evident now – the
song is in 12/8 so that every beat has a „triple‟ feel to it. Count “1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4
and a” to get to grips with this.
0‟27‟‟ Verse 1
A shift to the tonic key of E minor. This verse is divided into two sections as follows:
0‟27‟‟ Section A - Buckley‟s haunting voice moves slowly up and down over chords
which generally shift up a semitone to F minor or down a semitone to Eb. There are
many discordant notes and general tonal confusion, which perfectly complement the
wandering melody. This chord sequence is played twice.
0‟49‟‟ Section B – Buckley moves up an octave and the harmony rises by step. The
melody seems more positive, largely due to its preoccupation with the second and
seventh degrees of the scale – both „sharp‟ notes. Again the chord sequence is
played twice.
1‟11‟‟ Chorus
Songwriters agree that „good‟ pop songs reach the chorus at around the 1-minute mark, and
Buckley delivers accordingly! However, though the chorus melody (to the repeated words
“Wait in the fire”) is repetitive and catchy in the best pop tradition of the hook, the
underlying harmony is even more discordant and continues to be based on chords a
semitone apart. The guitars appear to remain on an E minor chord whilst the bass part
moves from F to E to Eb (as it did in the first part of the verse). Buckley‟s vocals are doubled
(an octave higher, falsetto) and the chorus ends with a resolution onto the tonic chord.
1‟30‟‟ Instrumental (Section A)
This is the same as at 0‟00‟‟, but with slightly fuller texture.
1‟41‟‟ Instrumental (Section B)
The same as at 0‟11‟‟
1‟56‟‟ Verse 2
This second verse is very similar to verse 1, with the second section beginning at 2‟19‟‟.
Texturally there is more interest now, with a string section added. Buckley helped with the
string arrangements but they were largely the work of Karl Berger, who adds colour to the
arrangement with use of tremolos, pizzicato, glissando and sudden changes of dynamic.
2‟41 Chorus
Buckley‟s singing is becoming higher and more impassioned, and we are beginning to get a
taste of the amazing power and range of his voice. This chorus is largely similar to the last,
with the addition of subtle string parts.
3‟00 Bridge
Right at the point where many pop songs would come to a close, Grace enters a new phase
with an exciting and harmonically obscure bridge. Melody is largely absent in this section
and it feels as if we are moving to the key of G minor, but only fleetingly as a passage of
falling semitones plunges us back into E minor.
3‟16‟‟ Vocalised verse (Section B)
We hear the harmonies of the second part of the verse, but the lyrics are replaced with full-
sounding vocal harmonies and some characteristic falsetto from Buckley. On the third
repeat of this sequence (at 3‟31‟‟) he passionately sings the words “It reminds me of the pain
I might leave behind”, his voice laden with effects and manipulation of EQ. This „half-verse‟
is really part of the Bridge above, as it is not preceded by its first section or followed by the
chorus.
3‟41‟‟ Instrumental (Section A)
A return to the very opening of the song, with added percussive effects made on the guitar
by completely muting the strings and strumming.
3‟53 Instrumental (Section B)
As before, but perhaps more rhythmically exciting now
4‟07‟‟ Verse 3
This third verse is only half as long as the others (there is no Section B, perhaps because we
heard it in the Bridge), and Buckley sings the melody an octave higher than before, with
tremendous emotion. Guitars and drums play particularly strongly.
4‟26‟‟ Chorus (extended)
The chorus begins (it actually has the same chords as the first part of the verse – a fact
which is emphasised here). Buckley is vocalising and does not bring in the lyrics of the
chorus (“Wait in the fire”) until 4‟41‟‟. This style of singing, reaching previously unheard
heights, was one of the chief reasons for Buckley‟s meteoric rise to stardom through his live
performances, which must have been spellbinding. The instrumental performances match
Buckley‟s singing in intensity and the song builds and builds. Eventually it hits a final chord –
not the tonic - leaving the listener feeling rather unsettled!
Section A and B questions on Grace are likely to cover some of the following points:
Pitch
- The complexity of this track will make notation questions difficult, though perhaps small
sections of Buckley‟s vocal melody (such as that for the chorus) might be set, with you
being asked to insert missing notes. This type of question could conceivably be asked of
the guitar riffs as well.
- Spend time looking at Buckley‟s vocal range, which covers two octaves from E to E (and
even higher at the end).
- Instrumental sections are entirely chord-based – there are no noticeable instrumental
melodies other than the guitar riffs.
Rhythm
- The track has a 12/8 compound feel to it, though some transcriptions might notate it in
6/8 time. It does feel like a fast triple time song – quite unusual for a pop song.
- The track has a moderate tempo but feels quite fast, due to the quick guitar rhythms.
Buckley‟s vocal is generally very slow moving, however.
Harmony and tonality
- The harmony and tonality of this song are the most complex of its features. There is a
preoccupation with chromatic scales and semitone relationships, and it is not unusual
for the band to be playing two chords at the same time, making a polytonal effect.
Instrumentation
- The track is written for rhythm and lead guitars (there are at least three rhythm
guitars on the recording due to overdubs) – both acoustic and electric, bass, drums
and string orchestra.
- The album notes mention other instruments played by Buckley, including organ,
harmonium and dulcimer – it is quite possible that some of these instruments
contribute to the overall texture on this song.
- There is much use of lead guitar, with long, slow moving notes and effects such as
feedback contributing to the plethora of sound effects on this track.
Texture
- Much can be said about the arrangement on this track and the control of texture, which
allows the track to develop towards its impassioned climax
You will need to have a little knowledge of the background of the track (see the overview
above) and be able to relate any extract heard to the piece as a whole. Additionally, it is
important that you understand how the track Grace fits into the album, and a very brief,
superficial study of one or two of the other tracks would be good for this. For example:
Mojo Pin – similar to Grace (and also co-written with Lucas) in that it exploits
Buckley‟s interest in superimposing instrumental effects over guitar riffs.
Additionally, the harmonic structure is complex and his vocal range impressive. It
also explores a variety of tempos and metres. The characteristic Buckley sound of
the strummed electric guitar is heard on this track too.
Hallelujah – you may will be familiar with this, since it nearly topped the charts at the
end of 2008 thanks to an online campaign by Buckley fans to outdo X-Factor winner
Alexandra Burke‟s version! It has also appeared in many popular films and TV
shows. Buckley‟s cover of this classic Leonard Cohen song is minimal in
arrangement and probably the best example of his phenomenal performing ability –
undoubtedly inherited from his father.
Lover, you should have come over – this is a beautiful ballad, with a fantastic harmonium
introduction played by Buckley himself. Melodically it is possibly his best work. Like
Grace it has a triple time feel to it. You might be interested to listen to Jamie
Cullum‟s cover of this song, on his Twenty-Something album.
Corpus Christi Carol – this unusual track (how many other pop albums can boast
songs from the sacred choral tradition?) is particularly haunting, and Buckley‟s voice
and performance breathtaking. Both Buckley and Britten were influenced by folk
music, and here we can trace this common ground between two otherwise very
different musical styles.
Lilac Wine – this is a cover version of an old song. Buckley was known to have loved
Nina Simone‟s version.
It is also important for you to gain a little understanding of Buckley‟s musical background.
His biological father, Tim Buckley, released nine albums in the late 1960s and early 1970s (he
died of a drug overdose in 1975). Additionally it is well-known that Jeff Buckley was strongly
influenced by 1970s progressive rock bands such as Led Zeppelin and Genesis, folk-rock
artists such as Van Morrison, classical composers such as Ravel and jazz arrangers such as
Duke Ellington, whose harmonies and textures interested Buckley acutely.
MOBY: Why does my heart feel so bad
Context
Richard Melville Hall adopted the stage name Moby due to his namesake and distant
relative, Herman Melville, the author of Moby Dick. Born in New York in 1965 and given a
musical education as a child, Moby started to make an impact on the charts and in the clubs
in the UK in 1991 and by 1998 he had scored a number of top ten hits and toured with
some major artists. He was also a competent film score composer and remixed the James
Bond Theme for the 1997 film Tomorrow Never Dies.
However it was his 1999 album Play (his sixth studio album), which really propelled Moby to
fame in mainstream pop music. Despite slow initial sales, this album has now sold more than
nine million copies, and every track on it has been licensed to appear in films, TV shows and
commercials. The follow-up album, 2002‟s 18 sold four million copies, and Moby toured
extensively for both these albums. Throughout the following years Moby has continued to
be at the forefront of world dance music, has had very public spats with hip-hop artist
Eminem, has co-written with the likes of Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Britney Spears, and has
headlined at Glastonbury. His best-known song, Extreme Ways, appeared in the Jason
Bourne movies. He continues to be a very successful artist and his music continues to
appear in film and TV on both sides of the Atlantic. He also does a lot of work for good
causes and provides free music for film students and non-profit organisations.
Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad was the fourth single released from the album Play. Moby
originally wrote it in 1992 as a techno dance track, but for this album made it slower and
more melancholy. In keeping with Moby‟s interest in sampling old vocal recordings, this
track features The Shining Light Gospel Choir from the early 1950s. It reached number 16 in
the UK singles chart and number 3 in Germany, and appeared in the trailer for the Ewan
McGregor film Black Hawk Down. Its animated video features „Little Idiot‟ – an alter-ego of
Moby‟s who lives on the moon and visits Earth for a number of adventures.
Style
Moby has a strong spiritual side and a Christian faith, and the underlying style of the music
on his Play album is the fusion of inspirational (though not always religious) samples with
solid dance grooves. His techno background is clearly evident, with equal measures of dance
breakbeats and ambient textures and a wonderful concoction of old and completely new
samples which makes his work almost timeless.
The song itself mixes traditional blues and gospel with techno and electronica, and has
minimal lyrics, alternating verses of “Why does my heart feel so bad? Why does my soul
feel so bad?” with “These open doors, these open doors”. These words are not exactly
true to the original 1950s gospel song, but have been cleverly altered and „cut and pasted‟.
Let‟s have a closer look.
Sampling
At the start of the track it is easy to hear that the vocal samples have been lifted from an
old gospel recording and „glued‟ together (using a sequencing program such as Logic). One
can hear the lo-fi noise of the original shellac 78 record, and the ambient sounds of the
other gospel singers. The phrases „Why does my heart” and “Why does my soul” are lifted
in their entirety, but “feel so” is taken from a different part of the original verse, and the
word “bad” has been electronically altered by Moby from the original word “glad”.
Additionally, the phrase “These open doors” has also been altered – the original has the
phrase “He opens doors”. It is likely that Moby sampled the “s” sound from another word
and added it to make “he” sound like “these”. This kind of manipulation of samples is the
staple diet of DJs and remixers. What is particularly refreshing about Moby‟s work is that
he makes no effort to „tidy up‟ or modernise these samples – conversely he prefers to
retain the lo-fi aspect that they bring to the track.
Instrumentation and arrangement
The sampled gospel vocals, one male and one female, form the basis of the track, but Moby
creates an ambient, chill-out style of music to accompany them. The drum track comes
from the fabled Roland TR-909 drum machine, which was as important to 1980s House
and Techno as the violin is to orchestral music. The bass and string parts come from a
variety of synthesizers and the piano sounds from an Emu music workstation – these
were multi-tasking synths (often with on-board sequencers), which had become very
popular in the 1990s. Some of the more intricate drum parts were sampled and looped by
Moby from existing dance tracks.
The piano part in this track is particularly important, as it plays the chords (see below),
which structure the entire song. The style of piano playing, common in techno and house
music of this time, is very simple, ranging from triads in the right hand with single left hand
bass notes (the triads sometimes in inversion) to spread chords. In later sections the
piano becomes more rhythmic, alternating left and right hands to make syncopation.
Melody and harmony
Like the other two tracks examined in this article, the melodic and harmonic writing is
modal. In this case the Dorian mode, transposed to A (and therefore containing the
notes A, B, C, D, E, F sharp, G and A) is used. It sounds like A minor but crucially uses G
naturals rather than G sharps, making it modal.
The harmonic structure of this track is very straightforward, as is common in dance music.
The verses, or A sections, where the male vocal sample is used, follow the chord
progression
Am Em G D
with two bars to each chord. The choruses, or B sections, where
the female vocal sample is used, follow the progression
C Am C Am
F C F C
Rhythm
Essentially Moby uses three aspects of his arrangement to build the chilled, laid-back rhythm
of this track. The piano part has an important part to play, as mentioned above, and
ultimately has a syncopated rhythm (first heard at 1‟18‟‟). The drum loop remains virtually
unchanged, and is mixed so that it compliments the piano and „colours‟ the texture rather
than dominating it rhythmically.
Finally, the vocal samples themselves contain syncopated rhythms, which are enhanced by
Moby‟s creative sampling – a good example of this is the way he treats the female vocal in
the B sections. He makes much of the contrast between more rhythmic phrases (“Why
does my heart” and “open doors”) and slower moving phrases or long notes (“feel so bad”
and “These”).
Structure
Many dance tracks of the 1980s and 90s follow an equal 8 or 16 bar „block‟ structure, and
this track is a good example of that. Each block is eight bars long and contains four chords
(two bars per chord), and is usually characterised by a new aspect of the arrangement, such
as the addition or subtraction of an instrument or part of the texture.
The eight-bar blocks in this track can be seen as follows:
A section
0‟00‟‟ Simple chordal piano introduction
0‟20‟‟ Addition of male vocal sample
0‟39‟‟ Addition of drum loop and three-note falling motif, which
answers each vocal phrase (synth piano/string sound)
0‟59‟‟ Addition of bass and string chords
1‟18‟‟ Piano becomes more rhythmic (see notation above)
B section
1‟38‟‟ Female vocal replaces male. Harmony changes (see above)
but the arrangement remains the same as previous block.
1‟57‟‟ Second half of female vocal section. The vocal sample is
repeated at double time, creating rhythmic interest.
Harmony changes again (see above). Some new vocal interjections
can be heard.
A section
2‟17‟‟ Return of male vocal sample. This time, a delay effect is
applied, along with some removal of the lower frequencies on the
„echoes‟. Instrumental parts remain largely the same
2‟37‟‟ Same as above. An extra bar of silence is inserted at the end.
B section
2‟59‟‟ Drums, piano and bass have disappeared, resulting in a
more ambient breakdown section, common in dance music. The
female voice has more reverb and is further back in the mix.
3‟18‟‟ The drop – where all the rhythmic parts return (preceded
by a simple drum fill). The vocal interjections have returned and the
main vocal is prominent again.
3‟38‟‟ A repeat of the second part of the B section
A section (coda)
3‟57‟‟ A final rendition of the male sample, with very understated
synth pad chords and nothing else. The track ends on an
unresolved D major chord.
To help your awareness of Moby‟s style, you could make yourself broadly familiar with a
couple of other tracks from the Play album:
Natural Blues is another one of the successful singles from the album - an
arrangement or remix of an old a cappella folk-blues song called Trouble So Hard
Run On is a cover of a well-known folk song also known as God‟s Gonna Cut You
Down which has also been recorded by Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. Moby‟s
version samples vocals by Bill Landford and The Landfordaires.
Porcelain – the highest charting single in the UK from this particular album – features
Moby himself singing and is more in the ambient, techno style for which he was
previously known.
Area of Study 4 – World Music
The set works in Area of Study 4 are:
Chuir M‟Athair Mise Dhan Taigh Charraideach (Skye Waulking Song) from the album
Nàdurra by Capercaillie.
Rag Desh (there are three different performances).
Yiri by Koko.
World Music – an introduction
The name „World Music‟ has become common in recent times, and is generally used by
those in the western world to describe indigenous, or perhaps folk music from across the
world. This is most commonly so that indigenous music can be separated from commercial
music (such as pop) and western classical music (such as that covered by Area of Study 1).
World Music has become an increasingly common part of school music curricula in the last
ten or fifteen years, and it is quite likely that you will have encountered World Music during
your Key Stage 3 music lessons. Music from Africa and Indonesia particularly offer quick and
easy accessibility, relying as they do on repetition and contrast, simple polyrhythms and
pentatonic scales.
The three examples chosen by Edexcel to represent World Music are not necessarily
„mainstream‟ (in World Music terms) but represent a good cross section of indigenous
music from three very different parts of the world, each of which has a very rich musical
heritage. In order to make these examples more accessible, it would be good to start this
Area of Study with a look at the way in which music from the Celtic, Indian and African
traditions have influenced western music to a great degree.
Please note that the tracks and genres selected for the three examples below
are purely to show the way in which these World Music genres have influenced
western commercial music – they are not particularly closely related to the
styles of the three set works.
Irish and Scottish folk songs (the set work is a „waulking song‟ or a work song from
Skye, in the Western Isles of Scotland) have become a common part of modern popular
culture, due in no small part to the incredible success of shows such as Riverdance, which
combined traditional Irish forms with music from other cultures. Listen to one of the songs
from Riverdance, such as the haunting Lift the Wings4, which was composed by Bill Whelan as
part of the show in the 1990s, but has its roots in traditional Celtic music. What aspects of
this song could be considered „traditional‟? Answers might include:
Use of traditional instruments such as pipes.
Use of only a few chords – very slow harmonic rhythm.
Repetitive structure, with a refrain.
Ornaments in the vocal melody.
We will be finding a number of these characteristics in the first of the World Music set
works.
Indian music has been a big influence in Britain over the last thirty years, thanks to the
second and third-generation British-Asian population whose parents and grandparents
emigrated to the UK in the 1960s and 70s. One of the forms in which this is clearest is
Bhangra5, and you could listen to Husan by Bhangra Knights6, which was famously used for
a car advertisement a few years ago. Complete a table showing how the Indian and Western
styles have merged in this track. The result might include some of the following points:
Indian elements Western elements
4 a beautiful version can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QL2r6yG3XM 5 An article on Bhangra is available from Mr Rushby if you are interested in finding out more 6 The video for this is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1mW5uPM1hU&feature=fvst
Punjabi language in the chorus Technological techniques associated with
dance music – such as sampling and using
loops
Indian instruments (particularly the drum and
string sounds)
Jamaican-style rapping (or „toasting‟) in the
verses
Using a traditional Punjabi song Electronic instruments and effects
Shouts of „bhangra‟ and „hei‟ A dance groove – reminiscent of disco
The second set work comes from the very different Indian classical tradition, but the
above exercise hopefully goes some way to convincing you of the relevance of Indian music
in modern western culture. In the 1960s in Britain, some of the foremost pop musicians
became influenced by Indian classical music, particularly that of the sitar player Ravi Shankar,
who for a while taught Beatles guitarist George Harrison. This resulted in the sitar appearing
on Beatles songs including Norwegian Wood and a track on the Sergeant Pepper‟s Lonely Hearts
Club Band album called Within You, Without You, which was written by Harrison and used
almost exclusively Indian instruments. The Rolling Stones followed suit, using a sitar on their
well-known song Paint It Black.
African folk music has had an immense influence on western music of the last fifty years,
influencing composers and artists from minimalist Steve Reich to singer-songwriter Peter
Gabriel. African singing has been made universally popular largely thanks to the South
African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo who have toured the world tirelessly since
their collaboration with Paul Simon on the album Graceland in 1986.
African drumming is taught in schools throughout the UK now, since it contains effective
techniques such as repetition, polyrhythms and cross-rhythms which make improvised
performances quick to put together and very impressive to hear. Even Disney have got on
the bandwagon, showcasing a variety of African influences in the film and musical version of
their blockbuster The Lion King which features music by Elton John.
Listen to the opening song from either the film or musical version of The Lion King (the
former is readily available on DVD, both can be found on YouTube7, or you could download
The Circle of Life as an audio track). Identify how the songwriters/arrangers of The Circle of
Life have created an „African‟ sound. Answers might include:
The opening contains chanting/singing a cappella reminiscent of African choral
singing, including the technique of call and response. This is sung by South African
singer Lebo M who was brought in by Disney to work on the soundtrack.
Underlying the first verse is a repetitive ostinato chant – ostinati are common in
African music.
The percussion parts are influenced by African instruments such as the djembe and
include polyrhythms and cross rhythms.
The chorus features more prominent close harmony singing.
7 Try http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX07j9SDFcc
The third set work is from Burkina Faso, in West Africa, and features a number of these
characteristics.
CAPERCAILLIE: Chuir M’Athair Mise Dhan Taigh Charraideach (Skye Waulking Song)
from the album Nàdurra (2000)
Context
A „waulking song‟ is one sung during the process of waulking, or working wool, which was
traditionally done by a group of women around a board. They would sing songs in the Gaelic
language that had repetitive and rhythmic refrains (sung by the group) and verses sung by a
soloist. This particular song (the title translates as „My father sent me to a house of sorrow‟)
comes from a collection of folk songs that were originally collected by the Irish writer and
traveler Alexander Carmichael, who published it in the late nineteenth century. It is part of a
long waulking song (200-plus verses) called „Seathan (John), Son of the King of Ireland‟, and
tells of the sadness of John‟s wife who travelled the world with him and witnessed his death.
The waulking women would have sung this song without instruments (a cappella) to help
them compete the arduous task, to give them a sense of togetherness and perhaps to
exercise their grievances about their lot in life. The waulking song tradition is part of a long
tradition of work songs around the world, which included prison songs, slave songs (such as
those sung on American plantations by African slaves) and sea shanties.
Capercaillie is a Scottish Celtic folk band who began recording in the 1980s, led by
accordion-player and keyboardist Donald Shaw. Their lead singer is Karen Matheson and
they have enjoyed much success (including some chart entries) over the past 25 or so years.
Their style is to take traditional folk songs and arrange them for traditional instruments, but
fused with modern instruments and production techniques.
On this track we hear a wide variety of instruments, not all of them associated with Celtic
folk music. Shaw plays the accordion, as well as piano and keyboards, and there is also a bass
guitar and drums. Additionally, you can clearly hear fiddle, bouzouki and uilleann pipes.
The bouzouki, a plucked string instrument like a mandolin or lute, is from Greece but has
become quite popular in Celtic folk music in the last fifty years. The uilleann (or „elbow‟)
pipes are Irish bagpipes played seated and powered by a bellows situated underneath the
right arm. Their haunting sound characterise much Irish traditional music.
Analysis
The GCSE Anthology of Music has a score of this song, which has been transcribed, meaning
that it has been assembled from the recording (which was done without printed music) and
is intended to be a guide to what the band actually play.
Melody
The vocal (sung by Karen Matheson) is in the low alto range.
The melody uses a small number of notes and is very repetitive. In fact, like a lot of
folk music, it is based on the five-note pentatonic scale (in this case, G-A-B-D-E).
There are in fact two verse melodies and two refrains. These melodies contrast,
particularly in the way that they descend or ascend.
There is an element of call and response in the refrains heard later in the song.
The instruments often imitate the vocal phrases.
Word-setting
The words are in Gaelic (in the verses) and use „nonsense‟ syllables, or vocables, in
the refrains.
The text is set in a syllabic way – there is very little melismatic writing.
Harmony and Tonality
The chords that harmonise this song are different for the verses and refrains.
However the overall harmony is very simple and allows the melody and rhythm to
dominate. When chords change, it is very noticeable.
The harmony sounds modal, due to the lack of chords with sharpened notes in
them (most of the chords are either G, E minor or C).
Some of the chords are dissonant note-clusters, emphasising the modern twist
that Capercaillie have brought to the song.
The song ends with a series of plagal cadences - again giving a modal „feel‟ to the
arrangement due to the lack of a dominant chord.
Rhythm and Metre
The overall metre of the song is compound, written in the score as 12/8 time.
The drummer spends a lot of time playing across this metre, and these cross-
rhythms give the arrangement interest and character.
Instrumentation and Texture
The arrangement is for both traditional and modern instruments, and Capercaillie
make a lot of this fusion.
Often the instruments „trade‟ phrases in a kind of conversation, with the electric
piano and bouzouki featuring early on.
When the full band enters in the middle of the arrangement the effect on the
texture is very telling. To emphasise this, a new chord is played and the drums move
to a more regular rhythmic pattern..
Some of the texture is heterophonic, meaning that instruments tend to embellish
melodies even when playing in unison with each other.
There is a lot of improvisation around the melody by various instruments.
Suggested Section A questions
In the exam, a short extract from the track lasting between about 30 and 60 seconds will be
played five times. Pick an extract and adapt the following questions to suit it:
On what type of scale is vocal melody based?
In what language is the song sung?
Complete a very short section of melody (you would be given the rhythm, or
alternatively be asked to notate a simple extract of rhythm only).
Name or write out one or two of the chords used in the harmony of the extract.
Name an instrument featured playing the melody in the extract.
What example from the extract supports the fact that this arrangement is a fusion
of traditional and modern music?
Suggested Section B questions
Section B will start with one or two simple, short answer factual questions about the music
or its context – such as:
How would you describe the style of this music?
Which part of Scotland does Capercaillie come from?
Name one of the band members of Capercaillie.
What is „waulking‟?
Then there will be a question demanding a longer answer in prose. This will be about one or
more of the elements of music, as described above. Examples could include:
Comment on the use of melody in this piece,
Comment on the structure of this piece,
Give examples of how Capercaillie adds a modern aspect to this traditional song.
VARIOUS: Rag Desh
Context
Rag Desh is a well-known example of Indian classical music, which is quite different to the
bhangra mentioned earlier. The Indian classical tradition is one of the oldest musical
traditions in the world, and its origins are largely the stuff of legend. What is clear is that
Indian culture has been shaped by the development of this important genre of music, which
in turn has been influenced by the rich variety of cultures present in the subcontinent over
the ages.
Indian classical music can be found in the form of vocal music, instrumental music and dance.
There is a great difference between traditional classical music of Northern India (called
Hindustani) and Southern India (Carnatic). Rag Desh comes from the Northern
Hindustani tradition. The melodies are based upon the rag, and the rhythms are based on
the tal.
Rag is a little like the western scale or mode – a „line‟ of five or more notes from which
the melody is constructed or improvised. The word comes from the ancient Sanskrit
language and means both „colour‟ and „beauty‟, suggesting that different rags „colour‟ the
listener‟s mind with different emotions.
A rag has a selection of notes, which are structured in a modal way known to Indian
musicians as that. Like a scale, the rag ascends and descends, and has some notes that are
more important than others, like our key notes. Additionally, a rag can be associated with a
time of day (Rag Desh is a night-time rag) and sometimes a season (Rag Desh is associated
with the monsoon season).
The tal (sometimes seen as „tala‟ or „taal‟) has no real equivalent in western music, but is a
rhythmic cycle that comprises a number of rhythms based around repeating patterns. The
word itself means „clap‟, and each section or „measure‟ is indicated by a clap or a wave of the
hands. These sections (known as vibhag) are like our bars in that they contain a set number
of beats, called matras. The strongest beat is the first beat of the rhythmic cycle, and is
called sam.
The most common and famous instruments associated with Indian classical music are the
sitar and the tabla. The sitar is plucked like a guitar, and has a long neck with over twenty
strings, many of which are not plucked but simply resonate in sympathy with those that are
played. The playable strings either provide a drone or play the melody. The sitar has
moveable frets (allowing very fine tuning of the strings) and two bridges that cause a large
number of harmonics to sound as the strings vibrate, giving the sitar its characteristic
„jangly‟ sound.8
The tabla is the most common percussion instrument, found in almost all Hindustani classical
music. It consists of two hand drums of different sizes, played by the fingers, palm and „heel‟
of the hand to create a large variety of sounds. The smaller drum (called the dayan or
tabla) is tuned to the most important note of the rag being played, and the larger drum
8 There are a number of good videos on YouTube which show the sitar and tabla being played.
(bayan) has a much deeper unpitched sound. The drum heads are made of animal hide, with
a central area made from a kind of paste which allows for a wider variety of timbres.
Structure
A typical rag performance can last anything from forty minutes to a number of hours, and
has a structure that falls into different sections. Overall there is a definite sense of starting
slow and free, and getting steadily faster, more rhythmic and more intense.
The alap section acts as a kind of introduction, where the notes of the rag are played slowly
in free rhythm. Then the rhythm and melody of the rag are gradually introduced in a section
called the jor. This is followed by the gat section, where the tabla player establishes the
pulse of the music and the melody is pre-determined (rather than improvised). The final
section, the most intense and exciting of all, is often called the jhalla section, which is fast,
extremely exciting and largely improvised. Both the length and the order of these sections
are quite flexible!
Ends of solos and sections are often signaled by a special melodic and rhythmic flourish
called a tihai. This is a short rhythmic phrase that is repeated three times, so that the end of
the third repetition coincides with the strong beat of the tal (sam). There are many
examples of tihais in all three performances.
The three performances on the GCSE Anthology CD are all based on Rag Desh, but are very
different. Let‟s have a look at them in a little more detail.
Anoushka Shankar‟s performance
Anoushka Shankar is a sitar player, and the daughter of Ravi Shankar, who I mentioned
earlier. You may be familiar with the music of her half-sister Norah Jones, an American-
based singer-songwriter. This performance of Rag Desh was recorded at Carnegie Hall in
New York in October 2001. Here are the most important characteristics of her
performance:
The performance is for sitar and tabla. There is no tambura (a common drone
instrument), so Shankar provides her own drone on the sitar.
The alap section has no fixed metre.
There are a lot of examples of bending the string and therefore the pitch of the
notes on the sitar, especially in the opening alap section of this performance. This
technique is called meend.
The tabla does not enter until the second section – the gat section. This section
includes a pre-determined composition based on the rag. The tabla plays a ten-beat
tal called jhaptal. This section becomes more intense with more improvisation and
decoration from both instruments.
Towards the end of the gat section, the beat changes to a 16-beat tintal – the most
common type of tal.
The final part of the performance is the jhalla section, and features a lot of very
impressive improvisation by Shankar. There is a lot of call-and-response between
sitar and tabla.
The final jhalla section is very exciting indeed and includes strumming of the drone
strings of the sitar.
Chiranji Lal Tanwar‟s performance
Tanwar‟s performance of Rag Desh takes the form of a devotional Hindu song called a
bhajan, which uses words written in the 16th century to praise the deity Lord Krishna. The
singer is well known in Indian classical music and has released a number of albums and
performed on television and radio. This performance dates to 2004.
Tanwar is accompanied by two stringed instruments: a sarod, which is a smaller, fretless
version of the sitar, and a sarangi, which is a bowed string instrument often used with
singers as it can imitate the voice. Additionally there are tabla, some small cymbals and a
large double-headed drum called a pakhawaj. The two heads of this drum have different
pitches, which can be clearly heard in this recording.
This performance also begins with an alap, featuring sarangi and voice outlining the
notes of Rag Desh.
Again, the tabla joins in the bhajan section, which is the equivalent of the gat section
in instrumental music (another word for a vocal „gat‟ is a bandish).
Soon after the entry of the tabla, the song falls into a verse-refrain structure, with
instrumental interludes featuring the sarod and the sarangi. The tabla plays an eight-
beat tal called keherwa tal.
The vocal part uses a lot of ornaments, fast scales and melismas.
Benjy Wertheimer and Steve Gorn‟s performance
Also recorded in 2004, this third performance based on Rag Desh is given by two American
specialists in Indian performance. Gorn plays an Indian bamboo flute called a bansuri which
has fingerholes a little like a recorder, and is capable of the smallest variations in pitch, using
microtones (intervals smaller than a semitone). Wertheimer plays a bowed string
instrument called the esraj, which has frets and a large number of strings – a sort of cross
between a sitar and a sarangi.
Later in the performance Wertheimer switches instruments and takes up the tabla.
The first section (alap) outlines the notes of the rag at a very slow tempo,
accompanied by a drone created either by a synthesizer or a kind of electronic
accordian called a shruti box. The bansuri and esraj improvise in dialogue with each
other.
The second section (gat – and on a separate CD track) starts with a bansuri solo,
while Wertheimer takes up the tabla. Later in this section the tabla begins to
improvise patterns based on a seven-beat tal called rupak tal.
This is followed by the fixed composition and more rhythmically exciting music. The
bansuri repeats short phrases, before taking over with the improvisation. There are
several clear examples of tihai in this section.
The final section (the third CD track) is another gat section based on a twelve-beat
cycle called ektal. This exciting section finishes with three successive tihais – known
as chakradar tihai.
Suggested Section A questions
Again, feel free to pick a short extract from one of these performances and adapt some of
the questions suggested below to fit it:
What are the characteristics of the alap section?
What is the name given to the section that includes a fixed composition?
Describe some common ways in which a sitar is played.
Explain the following terms found in these performances: drone, meend, tal
What is a rag?
What are the specific characteristics of rag desh?
Name one of the instruments heard in this extract
Which type of tal is heard in this extract?
Suggested Section B questions
Short-answer questions found in section B may ask you to identify aspects of the Indian
classical tradition, such as knowing the name Hindustani or identifying the part of India most
associated with this music. The long answer question will again address the music from the
point of view of one or more of the elements of music – some suggested questions appear
below:
How do the treatments of Rag Desh differ in the three performances?
Compare the structure of two of the performances of Rag Desh.
What different types of tal are used in the three performances?
How do the three performances differ in terms of the instruments and the parts
that they play?
KOKO: Yiri9
Context
9 This track is available to buy from iTunes, and part of the album „Burkina Faso – Balafons and African Drums‟
which is available on iTunes and Amazon, amongst other sites.
Burkina Faso is situated in West Africa, landlocked by Mali, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin
and Niger. It was given its current name in 1984, having formerly been called Upper Volta. It
is a republic with a population of about 16 million, many living in poverty, and its capital is
Ouagadougou.
Like many African countries, there are a very large number of different cultures and
traditions in Burkina Faso, making it difficult to pinpoint any one particular musical style that
could be called „typical‟ of the country. Furthermore, Burkina has imported a lot of music
from its larger neighbours as well as Europe and the USA.
Many of the most popular home-grown musical groups in Burkina are balafon bands,
featuring this well-known xylophone-like instrument accompanied by drums such as the
equally famous djembe. Burkina has a thriving manufacturing industry of these instruments,
based in the second-largest city of Bobo Dioulasso. Koko is a balafon band with great
popularity in the country, and is led by balafon player and singer Madou Kone. Koko also has
a second balafon player and four other percussionists who play instruments such as the
djembe, talking drum and maracas. A number of these instrumentalists are also singers.
The track is intended by Edexcel to be representative of the wider Sub-Saharan African
style, and it would be good to spend some time finding out about other music from this
huge area.10 Particular focus on singing, drumming, the mbira (or thumb-piano) and the
kora (a type of guitar-harp hybrid)11 would be very beneficial, though sadly there is not
room in this article to go into all of this. If you have time to do this, focus the listening on
identifying the common characteristics of African instrumental music:
Repetition
Call and response
Polyphonic texture (and polyrhythms)
Improvisation and dialogue
Pentatonic and heptatonic melody
Rhythmic patterns and cycles, often with cross rhythms
An oral tradition – none of the music is likely to be written down.
Style and Overview
„Yiri‟ translates roughly as „wood‟ and features a chorus, solo vocal sections, solo balafon
sections and some very exciting drumming. Like all the other pieces in this Area of Study,
the score published in the GCSE Anthology is a transcription of this live performance, which
would have been played without any notation. The transcriber has done an excellent job in
trying to capture the detail of what the musicians play, but it is important that you focus on
what they hear more than what you see on the page, which is intended as little more than a
guide.
Yiri begins with a free introduction on the balafon, in which the seven-note (heptatonic) scale
on which this piece is based is introduced. Note how the notes are played in a tremelo
10
In the Naxos Music Library, there is a lot of information on Sub-Saharan African music in the Study Area on
this site, including links to tracks and listening exercises. 11 YouTube has a number of excellent videos of mbira and kora players, such as the legendary Toumani Diabate,
who can be found on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8luhdxS2KuM
fashion, to help sustain the sound. After this introduction, the two balafons establish a simple
four-in-a-bar pulse, playing in 5ths and octaves with a repeating phrase.
Then the drums come in with an equally simple, repetitive rhythm, and a moderate tempo is
established. All of the phrases heard here are repeated as ostinati, and grow in complexity
with devices such as syncopation beginning to appear. This builds the tension up nicely,
ready for the start of the singing.
The singers begin with a pentatonic chorus (or refrain), and the balafon imitates the ends of
the phrases, before embarking on a solo that includes syncopated rhythms and descending
melodic phrases. After this solo, the chorus returns, followed by another balafon solo. All
these sections have a very clear tonal centre, or key note.
We are now about two minutes into the piece, and a singer performs a lengthy solo at this
point (often with the word „Yiri‟). Despite the fact he begins with a long note, most of the
vocal solo consists of short descending ideas, just like the previous balafon solo. The two
balafons play repetitive patterns to accompany, and towards the end of each section of the
solo the other voices respond to the soloist‟s „call‟. As the solo progresses, the balafon
rhythms become more syncopated, using cross-rhythms. This section has a tonal centre a
fourth higher than the previous one.
Another balafon solo takes the music to a higher tessitura, and another contrast follows
with the entry of the chorus, now modified to resemble the previous solo, and repeated
after a short section for instruments only. Then we hear the most complex balafon solo of
all, where the most showy playing has been reserved for the climactic point of the piece.
The balafon ends by playing the chorus melody, and the singers hear this signal and join in,
before leaving the balafon to another, showy solo.
Finally, we reach a coda section where the balafons explore a new repeating pattern.
We can be fairly sure that the balafon solos have been shared between the two players, and
it is clear to see that these solos, punctuated by the chorus, form the structure of the piece.
There is a lot of repetition, usually of short phrases or groups of notes, and the piece has a
constant tempo and dynamic level, meaning that contrast has to be achieved through rhythm
and texture.
Make your own Section A questions for Yiri
Choose any 40-60 extract from Yiri (try to select a specific section, such as one of the
balafon solos), you can use the generic questions below to make your own practice question
for Section A. The total number of marks for Section A is 10, and the extract will be played
five times.
Name the instrument playing the melody.
Name one of the types of drum playing the rhythm.
Describe the texture of this extract (this could be monophonic, heterophonic or
polyphonic depending on the extract).
The following terms describe aspects of the music in this section. Define these
terms: ostinato, syncopation, cross-rhythm.
Complete a small (four or five-note) section of one of the repeating phrases.
Suggested Section B questions
The opening short answer questions might ask from where in Africa this music comes, or
perhaps the name of the leader of Yiri, or another short-answer context question. The long
answer question (worth 10 marks) will ask how different elements of music are treated in
Yiri. The following notes should help plan and answer this question.
Melody
Melodies are short and repetitive – more phrases than full-blown melodies.
Melodies use a 7-note scale or 5-note scale.
Melodies are often centered around one or two notes.
Vocal melodies are sometimes treated in call-and-response fashion.
Melodies often descend in pitch.
New melodic material appears in the coda section of the piece.
Harmony
Some of the repeating melodic patterns are harmonised in 5ths or octaves.
Much of the music is performed in octaves or unison.
The piece has a clear tonal centre most of the time.
Rhythm
The drum rhythms are simple but interlock, creating polyrhythms and cross
rhythms.
The rhythmic patterns are repetitive.
There is a clear quadruple pulse, though this is sometimes altered for effect.
There is much syncopation.
Towards the end the rhythms become increasingly fast and complex.
Texture
The opening section has a monophonic texture.
Much of the texture of the piece is polyphonic
There are sections of heterophonic texture, where one balafon outlines the melody
of the other
Koko vary the texture of the piece for dramatic effect
Instruments/Voices
The piece is performed on two balafons and a variety of drums (see above for detail)
There is a solo voice and a group of unison voices, who sing a refrain
There are extensive solos for the balafons and the solo voice, with much scope for
improvisation and virtuosity
Much more could be said about the contribution of each of the parts to the piece
How to write really good Section B answers
There should be two basic aims in your mind when tackling a question requiring a prose
answer:
- approach the question with a clear and positive mind (in other words, don‟t be
frightened of it!);
- produce an answer which is concise, direct and well structured.
If you have to write anything extended about music, these nine golden rules will, if followed,
help them towards good marks.
1. Know what you are writing about
2. Be concise
3. Plan before you begin to write
4. Make a list of the important points you want to make
5. Use musical vocabulary
6. Give examples for every point
7. Show your enthusiasm
8. Use good language
9. Check your work
Let‟s look at these golden rules in more detail.
1. Know what you are writing about
There is no hiding from the fact that if you don‟t know your facts or understand the music,
you won‟t get many marks. Good writing is more about content than style. Therefore, the
unavoidable truth is that you need to make good notes in lessons, review those notes after
each lesson (otherwise you will forget most of what you have learned), and revise actively.
Active revision means making notes from your notes, drawing mind maps, timelines or
flowcharts, making lists or testing yourself – and not sitting gazing at a book.
If you have to remember information about set works, try to condense all the information
you need onto ONE side of A4 paper for each work12. At GCSE, examiners are not looking
for an extremely in-depth knowledge of a given piece. A good knowledge of the most
important facts and characteristics will gain high marks, and it is important to separate these
points from the irrelevant ones (for example, a lot of biographical information about the
composer could be irrelevant if you are studying the musical characteristics of one of his
works).
2. Be concise
There are no marks for the length of your answer – once again, it is all about what you say,
not how long you take to say it. So don‟t waffle on – say what you need to say once and
move on. Above all, be careful that you don‟t repeat yourself – if you find yourself writing
“…as I said earlier..” then you need to improve your planning. This leads us nicely onto the
next two rules.
3. Plan before you begin to write
4. Make a list of the important points you want to make
Maybe nine out of ten students will begin writing their answer almost as soon as they have
read the question, committing words to paper as things occur to them and spewing out all
they know about a topic as quickly as possible. Here is a short example of such an answer:
Q. What musical features of Chopin’s Raindrop Prelude are typical of
music of the Romantic Period?
A. Chopin’s Raindrop Prelude is a piano piece, which is
based on emotion more than structure and planning. It was
written for the piano and uses the instrument in a very expressive
way. It contains both traditional chord sequences and also some
more chromatic harmony, and it is full of contrasts of dynamics
and articulation. Chopin wrote the piece towards the end of his
life when he was suffering from illness, and it is said that he
imagined raindrops falling on his body as he lay dying. The
piano was a lot more advanced in Chopin’s day and, as I have
said, he was able to be very expressive with it in the way that he
wrote. Also, the chords he chose were often dissonant and he was
able to create tension. Other ways in which he used contrast were
by having the middle section in the minor key, though this section
is a lot longer than the A sections which is a Romantic feature.
The Raindrop Prelude is in ternary form.
12 A resource which does exactly this and is good for revision is available on the website
There is no doubt that this student has revised quite thoroughly and has a lot of very good
points to make, but this otherwise good answer lacks careful planning and is therefore quite
hard to follow. Before answering such a question, whether it is about a particular set piece
or a more general subject, make a list of what the main points are. You can do this on the
answer paper and then draw a line through it if you do not want the examiner to take any
notice of it (although it won‟t do any harm if they do!). Here is a list, in no particular order,
of the points that the student wanted to make about the Chopin Prelude:
Piano piece
Emotion and expression
Uses the piano expressively
Both traditional chord sequences and more chromatic ones
Contrasts of dynamics and articulation
Imagined raindrops
Piano more advanced
Dissonant chords = tension
Middle section in minor key
Middle section longer – not as balanced as classical pieces
Ternary form
All of these are good points, and a little organisation could get them across in a better way.
Next, draw lines linking up points that are similar or could be put together in the answer.
The re-ordered list would then look something like this (though just linking the points with
lines would save time):
Piano piece, piano more advanced, uses piano expressively
Emotion and expression, imagined raindrops
Ternary form, middle section longer (so less balanced)
Contrasts – minor key, dynamics, articulation
Both traditional chord sequences and chromatic ones,
dissonance=tension
Finally, number these five „groups‟ of points in the order that you want to state them. Then
you can write the answer, and it might look like this:
A. Chopin’s Raindrop Prelude is a piano piece. It was written
for a much more advanced piano than in previous
periods, and Chopin uses it very expressively. In fact,
emotion and expression are very important in this piece,
and it is said that Chopin, who was very ill when he wrote
it, imagined raindrops falling on his body as he lay
dying. The Prelude is in ternary form, and the middle
section is longer than the outer sections, making the
piece less balanced than a piece from the Classical
period. It is full of contrasts, both of dynamics and
articulation, and the middle section contrasts by being
in the minor key. The harmony is still quite traditional,
but there are a lot of chromatic chords and dissonance,
which causes tension.
Hopefully you will agree that this is a much easier answer to follow, and it is more concise
too.
5. Use musical vocabulary
The above answer is also strong because there are some great musical words in it, such as
contrasts, dynamics, articulation and dissonance. Words like these jump out at
examiners and add „class‟ to an answer. Keep a glossary for each genre or area of study as
they go through the course, and play frequent games of „hangman‟, „pictionary‟, „dingbats‟, or
do crosswords or anagrams to remember them.
Try to convert these sentences by replacing as much of them as you can with musical words
(suggested answers are also shown):
(a) The music gets louder and more instruments come in
(b) The main melody comes back though it sounds more
spikey, and it is in a different key
(c) There are a lot of both smooth and detached melody
lines, and some of the chords clash
(d) All the instruments play together in the same rhythm,
and it is much quieter. The tune has lots of sharps and
flats.
Suggested answers (musical words underlined)
(a) There is a crescendo and the texture becomes
fuller/thicker
(b) The main theme returns, played staccato, and the
music has modulated
(c) There are many contrasts of articulation, with both
legato and staccato phrases, and there are some dissonant
chords
(d) The texture is homophonic, and the dynamic is piano.
The theme/melody is chromatic.
6. Give examples for every point
A sure-fire way to gaining lots of credit is to be able to give examples. In GCSE exams this
would appear quite difficult as you have no access to the anthology. In fact at GCSE you are
not usually expected by examiners to be able to cite bar numbers. However there are plenty
of opportunities to give examples in other ways. For example, compare:
Bernstein uses a lot of syncopation in ‘Something’s Coming’ from
West Side Story
with
Bernstein uses a lot of syncopation in ‘Something’s Coming’ – for
example Tony’s entries on ‘Could be’ and ‘Who knows’ are
syncopated.
The first example would gain one mark, the second could well gain two.
It is worth mentioning also that composition or performing commentaries can also benefit
hugely from examples. Here, you can really impress by referring to bar numbers or time-
references, such as 1:45 (meaning one minute and forty-five seconds), when talking about an
important aspect of their work, such as:
I brought back the repeating bass idea at bar 45, to build up to
the final key change at bar 57
..or better still:
I brought back the bass ostinato at bar 45, to build up to the final
modulation at bar 57.
7. Show your enthusiasm
Without meaning to, you show a lot of your personality and enthusiasm in your written
work. Compare these three short, fabricated accounts of the beginning of Louis Armstrong‟s
West End Blues:
A
The trumpet solo at the start of the song is very important, as Louis
Armstrong plays lots of contrasting rhythms and uses both high
and low notes. He starts it in Eb major and ends it on a high Bb,
followed by the band on a Bb augmented chord. Then the song
begins.
B
Louis Armstrong immediately shows his ability as a trumpet player
in the opening to this piece. His attention-grabbing introduction,
which was probably improvised, contains huge contrasts of
straight and swing rhythms, uses the full range of the trumpet,
and dazzles us with remarkable virtuosic playing.
C
West End Blues begins with an amazing solo by Louis Armstrong.
His playing is extremely impressive and he shows what a great
trumpeter he was. I love the way he sets up the whole piece with his
solo, and really grabs the listener’s attention. It is possibly the
most important moment in jazz.
Whilst there is little factually wrong with any of these answers, and all would score some
marks, there is a lot of difference in the style of writing which would probably influence the
way in which the examiner might mark the work. Answer A contains some good points but
is extremely bland, talking about „the song‟ (and it‟s not a song, at least in this version!) as if
regurgitating some notes made in class. At the other end of the scale, answer C is positively
gushing but makes very few, if any, important points about the music. Answer B, however,
contains a number of good points, which are made in a way that shows that the writer is
interested in the music.
Try to re-work some of what you write in class so that it sounds more enthusiastic.
However it is important that you do not go overboard with enthusiasm at the expense of
the important points!
8. Use good language
„Quality of written communication‟ (QWC) is assessed in Section B. This means, in a
nutshell, that good spelling, punctuation, grammar and writing style will gain a few more
marks than an answer that is poorly expressed or has poor syntax. However you should not
lose sleep over this – QWC makes a difference of just a small number of marks at GCSE
level.
Teachers know that students have very differing levels of ability to express themselves in
clear English, and will be sure to carefully liaise with your school‟s learning support staff to
devise a strategy to help if you find this area difficult. There are some specific things that all
music students can do, however, which will help them do a little better in their quality of
written communication.
(i) Spelling musical words
Keep a glossary or keywords diary, and match the most common musical words to
appropriate genres. Regular games or quizzes to help you to learn how words like „rhythm‟
and „cymbals‟ should be spelt. There are some good mnemonics as well, such as „Rhythm
Helps Your Two Hips Move‟. Competitive games can be played, such as seeing who can
write the word „rhythm‟, correctly spelt, the most times in a minute.
Exercise
Rewrite these sentences with the correct versions of mis-spelled musical words:
(a) The peice has a repetative rythm.
(b) The drummer plays the crash symbol and the high hat.
(c) The music is in tenary form, with a 4/4 time signiture,
and the tempo is quiet fast.
(d) There is a repeting base line and cords in the panio
acompianment.
NB – beware of the word “practise”! This spelling is the verb, wheras the noun is “practice”.
So both of these sentences are correct:
‘I had to practise my part for many months’
‘Ornamenation is common practice in Baroque music’
(ii) Learn common punctuation errors.
Great steps forward can be made if the most common errors are known about and avoided.
Here is a selection:
(a) The apostrophe s! This bane of every teacher‟s life is commonly misused in everyday
life. Only recently I found myself visiting One of the South-Easts biggest collections of reptile‟s.
Try to remember that apostrophe s is used to show belonging, as in “Chopin‟s piano” or
“Queen‟s Bohemian Rhapsody”, whereas plurals NEVER have apostrophes.
(b) It’s not it’s, it’s its! This annoying little word is the exception to the above rule. Here,
if you are saying that something belongs to “it”, there is no apostrophe, just as in “his”,
“hers” and so on. The apostrophe is only used to show an elision of the phrase “it is”.
(c) If in doubt, don’t elide. For example, “is not‟ should be written instead of “isn‟t”,
“cannot” for can‟t and so on.
9. Check your work
Teachers tire of telling students to do this, and the advice to check work even appears on
many exam papers now, but it is still clear to examiners that many students do not check
through their work once they have completed writing it. Once you have checked through
for mis-spellings, try to read your work aloud to the class. This is a very good way of
highlighting clumsy English, poor grammar, or poorly expressed points, as you are likely to
stumble over sentences that contain any of these issues.
I hope that this resource gives you lots of useful help and information
about the Edexcel GCSE Music listening paper. Remember that the text
book and Anthology are also excellent and important resources.